GENERAL AND COMPARATIVE
ANIMAL PHYSIOLOGY Biology
556
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Lecture: Tuesdays 6-8:45 PM
Professor: Dr. Frank V. Paladino
Office: SB G-56
Phone: 481-6304 or 6305
COURSE DESCRIPTION: A comparative study
of how geneticly different and diverse animal
groups respond and adapt their functional
characteristics to the same environmental stimuli.
• The principles of physiology and their
application to how animals function in
different environments. An integration and
coordination of functional relationships
which occur in more than one group of
animals.
• REQUIRED TEXTBOOKS: Animal
Physiology 5th Edition. By K. SchmidtNielsen Cambridge U Press 2002
• In addition there will be required journal
articles which will be given in the form of
handouts or held on reserve at the library.
Students will be expected to have all
readings completed prior to class and be
prepared to ask and receive questions on
the material covered.
• COURSE GRADING POLICY:There will be
three lecture exams each worth 100 points
consisting of short answer and essay
questions. There will also be one library
research paper worth 40 points.
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Grade Calculation for 556:
306 - 340 points = A
272 - 305
=B
238 - 271
=C
204 - 237
=D
Below 203
=F
LECTURE OUTLINE UNIT 1: READINGS: Chapters 1,
2, 3,
I. General Introduction.
II. Definition of Life
I. All life must be capable of reproduction of their
unique structure & function, be able to metabolize
and adapt to their surrounding environment long
enough to reproduce, and have the ability to
evolve (slight structural and functional changes
through generations of life) Life on this planet is
based on 4 basic chemicals, Carbohydrates, lipids,
proteins and nucleic acids.
II. All life could have started spontaneously from the
Primordial soup and atmosphere of the primative
earth. Oparin Haldane theory.
A. Internal vs External Environments
1.
Homeostasis
2.
The cellular environment
Physiological Adaptations for
1.
Aerial Environments
2.
Aquatic environments
3.
Terrestrial environments
B. Acclimation vs Acclimatization
1.
Definitions
2.
Adaptation
3.
Contrast of physiological approaches to
adaptation
D.
a.
Regulator
b.
Conformer
Animal Fitness
1.
Survival tests and physiological limits
2.
Population environmental limits (reproduction)
II. Respiration, oxygen, carbon dioxide, & exchange.
2.
Effects of altitude and pressure on
respiration
A comparison of aerial and aquatic respiration
procurement of O2 from the environment.
A.Animals without specialized organs
B.Specialized Respiratory organs basic design
and function
1.
tracheal systems
2.
gills - a respiratory evagination
3.
lungs - a respiratory invagination
4.
skin
A.
B.
Basic physical gas laws
1.
Ideal gas law (P x V = n x R x T)
2.
Daltons law of partial pressures (Pt = P1 + P2 +
Px)
3.
Solubility of gases in water (Henry's law) V = a
xP
4.
Diffusion of gases in water and air.
Composition of the atmosphere
1.
Effects of water vapor on gas mixture and
respiration
• C. Aquatic respiration and gills
– 1.
• a.
• b.
• c.
irrigation vs ventilation
comparison of medium viscosity
and movement of medium over the
gill or movement of gill over the
medium.
A comparison of the energy cost, mechanical
damage, effect of medium influence on gas
exchange, dry vs wet environment,
Effects of temperature, salinity, ion content
other chemicals on gas exchange
b. other gill functions
1)
osmotic and ionic regulation
2)
waste removal
2.
Basic structure and function of gills
a. enclosed in chamber for protection
and flow pattern
b. counter current effect
c. arches, filaments, & lamella
d. crab gills
D. Respiration in Air, Lungs, skin, & tracheal systems.
1. gills and air respiration
2. (exceptions)
2. Use of skin
3. Other respiratory organ
During the
summer
Frog lungs
become a
more
important
source of
O2 because
in the higher
summer
temps the
MR is
increased.
Toad skin and lung can vary
with respect to the uptake
and release of O2 and CO2
depending on the
temperature
At 5 C the skin is more
important than lung for O2.
The same is true for CO2
release
Birds can fly at high altitudes because their one way flow
through lung is more efficient at extracting O2 from the air.
Tidal flow in mammalian lung is not as efficient.
For air to move completely through the
avian respiratory system of air sacs and
rigid one way flow lungs there must be
2 complete respiratory cycles.
Sea Cucumbers are the only
marine invertebrate with a
true tidal lung that suctions
water in and then pushes it
back out the same aperature
(Anus)
What would you predict
about the metabolic rate and
activity level of these animals
from their lung structure and
function?
Invertebrates have
complex
respiratory
systems including,
gills and diffusion
lungs.
External gills can be a
liability. It is
interesting to note that
at the base of many
polychaete worms are
parapodia that can be
specialized to “bite or
clamp down” on
anything that tries to
damage or “eat these
fine gill filaments
The egg shell
and
membranes
serve as the
exchange
barriers and
surface for
embryos the
are placed in
them. Pore
size and
number
become
important
factors in
respiration
Lung volumes are
constant relative to
body size and are
about 5 – 7 % of total
body mass.
Allometry is an
important tool for
comparing different
sized animals and the
proportion of their body
devoted to an organ or
tissue.
Blood Pigments help to
Transport respiratory
gas.
The evolution of these
pigment arose as
organisms became
larger and more complex
and also as they moved
from a aquatic
environment onto the
land.
– A.
Respiratory pigments
– 1.Comparison of 4 principle blood pigments
• a.
–
–
–
–
–
–
b.
Hemoglobin (erythrocurin)
1)
2)
3)
Structure (allosteric effects)
Distribution
Bohr effect & Reverse Bohr
effect
4)
Root effect
5)
Temperature
6)
2-3 DPG pigment
enhancers
Chlorocrourin
–1)
structure
–2)
distribution
–3)
other
Blood Pigments Continued
• c. Hemerythrin
–1)
structure
–2)
distribution
–3)
other
• d. Hemocyanin
–1)
structure
–2)
distribution
–3)
other
– 2.
• a.
• b.
• c.
Intracellular pigments
myoglobin
cytochromes
chlorophyll
B.
Role of respiratory pigments in different
environments
1.High P O2 - low affinity pigments –example: Terrestrial
mammals: lots of easily accessible O2 in normal air, no need
for thich protective diffusion barrier because no ionic problems
in gas exchange in air, low affinity pigment allows for easier &
greater unloading at cells/tissues and permits high O2 use,
easier delivery
Another example is in marine environments where polychaetes
like Sabella have chlorocrourin and the pigment acts as an
emergency store and increases the blood O2 carrying capacity
2.High P O2 - High affinity pigment i.e. decapod
crustaceans like Spiny lobster from the marine environment
have basic problems with ionic/osmotic balance in marine
environment. Need a high affinity pigment to pick up O2
across thick gill diffusion barrier that is designed to help control
water loss and ion influx from sea water. High affinity needed
to facilitate O2 uptake across thick gill barrier. Unloads only at
3.Low P O2 - High affinity pigment found in invertebrates
that move from high O2 to areas of low O2 regularly . Inverts
living in fluctuating environments like local lakes where O2 in
water can be quite high but the animals then travel into
anaerobic mudflats where the pigment then serves as an O2
reserve during emergency . Under normal circumstances O2
bound to pigment is not used. Another i.e. is planorbis
(pulmonate snail) uses high affinity pigment to allow for longer
dives under water wnere O2 is low and will ventilate lung
chamber before and after dive where air is stored and pigment
can procure O2 during dive.
4.Low P O2 - Low affinity pigment i.e. Sipunculid worms
(peanut worms) like Siphonosoma ingens that lives in a marine
sediment burrow. Has interesting circulatory system where
blood cells contain heme-erythrin in thick walled tentacles that
emerge from burrow. Harsh water/ion gradients in marine
water but they have a low affinity pigment in tentacles. In body
cavity have a high affinity coelomic pigment that facilitates
Control of Respiration is it O2 or CO2 that is more
important?
Control of Respiration
• Respiratory control center in brain: a
reverberating circuit.
• Primary pacemakers are inspiratory center
found in the pons & medula of higher
vertebrates
• Send impulses to Diaphram or musces of
inspiration via phrenic nerve
• Also send impulses to apneustic or expiratory
center and stimulate them to eventually fire and
turn off pacemaker cells
Why is CO2 more important?
• Henderson – Hasslebach equation
• CO2 + H20 ----- H2CO3 - HCO3 + H
• This reaction is sped up by Carbonic
Anhydrase found in Erythrocyte
membranes
• pH Blood = 6.1 x log10 of
[HCO3]/[H2CO3]
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Air Bladder rete for O2